Finding the Luminato Red Ball - Toronto Creativity Arts Festival

The Luminato Creativity Arts Festival is represented by a huge Red Ball public display installation, by artist Kurt Perschke, that has made an attention grabbing bouncing landing in the downtown Toronto Area as part of its Canadian Premiere.  

Having made international headlines, the bouncing Red Ball has travelled around the world and has appeared in cities like Barcelona Spain, Sydney Australia,  Busan South Korea, Chicago USA and now in Toronto Canada as part of its worldly global trek.

It is exactly what it looks like: a giant inflatable Red Ball, about 20 feet in diameter and it is traveling around the GTA magically appearing and constantly changing locations on a daily basis as it is securely wedged into concrete corners, easing into public entranceways, appearing beneath pathway bridges or just seemingly poping up in regular downtown city alleyways.

Part of the interesting appeal of the eye-popping Red Ball urban art installation project is that it is keeping the public guessing on where it will pop up next as it mysteriously changes locations around the Toronto area surprising business people looking for a lunchtime get away to escape the usual concrete elements while simultaneously transforming an ordinary public space into a temporary outdoor gallery for the duration of the Luminato Arts Festival on this month of June.

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Finding the Luminato Red Ball - Toronto Creativity Arts Festival

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With vision and curiosity kids are immediately amused by the Red Ball and play around it without delay converting a regular walkway into a playground,  some children even run into to it and bounce back; adults however are indifferent as some people were seemingly irritated from their daily routine if it blocked their entrance or passage openly protesting: "I don't get it..?" but most people just take pictures and smile at the mysterious sudden appearance of the urban oval art form with its contradictory stillness amid its wonderful bright attraction.  

Perhaps the artist Perschke is investigating city landmarks and urban history with his traveling Red Ball project re-inventing the ordinary and never-noticed to an eye-popping appeal, or maybe what sheds light on the possible 'meaning' of the Red Ball project is supposed to be more internal than external allowing us to reflect on our our world and the elements that encompass our environment; since the Red Ball is always near water fountains perhaps the underlined message is that: like water, one cannot reflect, unless one is perfectly still.

So if you are in Toronto for the Luminato Art Festival go seek out the Red Ball and see things afresh, it won't be hard to find!

Samuel Carr (inset picture) inflates and manually sets up the Red Ball that has appeared thus far at Nathan Philips Square (100 Queen Street West), Old City Hall (60 Queen Street West) and at the south west corner of First Canadian Place at 100 King Street.

The Red Ball is scheduled to appear:

on Wednesday, June 10 at the  Elm Street alley (13 & 15 Elm St.) 

on Friday, June 12 at Ryerson University's Podium Building (350 Victoria Street) 

and Saturday, June 13 at Queen Street West alley (567 and 569 Queen Street West)

~Tomitheos reporting from Toronto